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Where the bottom is rocky and affords places for it to anchor, giant kelp forms extensive kelp beds with large "floating canopies". [8] When present in large numbers, giant kelp forms kelp forests that are home to many marine species that depend upon the kelp directly for food and shelter, or indirectly as a hunting ground for prey. Both the ...
For example, mechanical dredging of kelp destroys the resource and dependent fisheries. Other forces also threaten some seaweed ecosystems; for example, a wasting disease in predators of purple urchins has led to an urchin population surge which has destroyed large kelp forest regions off the coast of California. [4]
More commonly Norrisia norrisii is found in the shallow subtidal, particularly in kelp forests. On Santa Catalina Island off the coast of southern California, Norrisia norrisii is commonly seen crawling up and down stipes of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. [9] [12]
Sea urchins like this purple sea urchin can damage kelp forests by chewing through kelp holdfasts The sea otter is an important predator of sea urchins The jeweled top snail Calliostoma annulatum grazing on a blade of giant kelp. Classic studies in kelp forest ecology have largely focused on trophic interactions (the relationships between ...
The Giant kelp marine forests of south east Australia is a community extending from the ocean floor to the ocean surface, on a rocky substrate, and has a ‘forest-like’ structure with many organisms occupying its various layers, including pelagic and demersal fishes, sea birds, turtles and marine mammals in addition to the invertebrate ...
This "kelp highway hypothesis" suggested that highly productive kelp forests supported rich and diverse marine food webs in nearshore waters, including many types of fish, shellfish, birds, marine mammals, and seaweeds that were similar from Japan to California, Erlandson and his colleagues also argued that coastal kelp forests reduced wave ...
Pterygophora californica is a large species of kelp, commonly known as stalked kelp. It is the only species in its genus Pterygophora (Ruprecht, 1852). [2] It grows in shallow water on the Pacific coast of North America where it forms part of a biodiverse community in a "kelp forest". It is sometimes also referred to as woody-stemmed kelp ...
For instance, Macrocystis, a kelp of the order Laminariales, may reach 60 m (200 ft) in length and forms prominent underwater kelp forests that contain a high level of biodiversity. [4] Another example is Sargassum, which creates unique floating mats of seaweed in the tropical waters of the Sargasso Sea that serve as the habitats for many ...